Poor Practices in New Zealand’s Sunbed Industry
May 8, 2015
Survey Approach
Consumer NZ’s mystery shoppers visited 60 sunbed operators. The operators included solaria (specialist sunbed establishments), fitness centres, hairdressers, beauty therapists and nail salons. At each visit the shoppers evaluated the session against key safety guidelines of the voluntary sunbed standard, AS/NZS 2635:2008 Solaria for cosmetic purposes.
Consumer NZ also sent underage shoppers to 20 sunbed operators (11 in Auckland and 9 in Wellington) to book a session. According to the standards, sunbed use should be restricted to those aged 18 and over.
Key Findings
Although the survey found an improvement in compliance with the voluntary standard, many operators still are not complying with key safety criteria.
Thirteen operators did not provide a consent form and eleven operators did not undertake a formal skin assessment. (Under the voluntary standard, “people using a sunbed should be given a consent form to sign that checks their age, spells out the risks of sunbed use, makes it clear who’s at high risk and emphasises the importance of wearing protective goggles”.)
Twelve operators did not display all of the warnings related to UV exposure and the higher risk for specific groups, as recommended in the standard.
Twelve operators displayed a poster that contained claims that implied sunbed use was beneficial. In 2011, the Commerce Commission warned the industry against making false or misleading claims about the health benefits and risks of sunbed use. Consumer NZ now will be making a further complaint to the Commerce Commission, according to its Chief Executive Sue Chetwin.
Consumer NZ’s View
- Consumer NZ surveys of sunbed operators continue to find poor practices in this industry.
- Consumer NZ supports the Health Protection Amendment Bill but do not think it goes far enough. They would like a total sunbed ban.
- At a minimum, it is time the voluntary standard was made mandatory and all operators licensed.
Results of the survey can be found here.https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/sunbeds
Source:
Consumer NZ https://www.consumer.org.nz/articles/sunbed-rules-still-being-broken